Lord Mayor Katrina Fong Lim said she wanted the award winners to be recognised and celebrated in the days leading up to Australia Day this weekend.

The Young Citizen of the Year award went to 22-year-old Jeremiah Rasing for his work establishing Breakdance NT since he was 17.

RSPCA Darwin won the Community Event of the Year for the RSPCA's Million Paws walk, which raised more than $60,000 for a local animal shelter.

But the overall Citizen of the Year award went to a humble and unsuspecting character; Queensland-born Indigenous woman, Jane Lawton.

Too unwell to be able to receive the award in person, Jane's sister Ronda Nield accepted the award on her behalf this week.

"She may have been born in Queensland but she moved up here about 14 years ago now, and I still remember one time she drove back from Queensland to Darwin, and she reached the border of the Northern Territory and she just said 'I'm home'," Ronda said.

"Hear heart's in the Territory and this is her home. Her passion is for the people, the community and the place."

Jane Lawton originally moved to Darwin to start the Northern Territory branch of Mission Australia, but the shift lead her on to many other things in Darwin and around the Top End.

"In that time she worked with job network and community services and that's where she found her passion in the community service," Ronda said.

"She developed amazing relationships you couldn't buy - not relationships you get by doing favours, but actually respect."

Jane's long-held desire to begin her own organisation was finally realised after she left Mission Australia and began "Creative Options" - a consulting and training organisation that helps other community organisations to develop.

Ronda said her sister's motto for life is "get on with it".

The award winners will be acknowledged in a special Australia Day ceremony at the Darwin Entertainment Centre on January 26 at 10am.